teXet to Launch a Frontlight-Equipped eReader in Russia

The Russian gadget maker teXet unveiled their latest ereader earlier this week and it is a curious mix of new and old.

The TB-416FL is reportedly a new upgraded version of the TB-416, teXet's budget model. The new model has a frontlight on the 6" screen but is still lacking other obvious improvements like a touchscreen, Wifi, or an HD screen.

This ereader is equipped with the 6" Pearl E-ink screen that most US ereader makers have long since stopped using on their front line models. This venerable screen has a resolution of 800x600, which as any owner of a Nook, Kobo, or Kindle Touch can tell you is more than adequate to let you read ebooks.

The frontlight has 8 brightness levels, from off to full power. Illumination is carried out by a special plate with eight LEDs mounted around the screen. There's no estimate on how the frontlight affects battery life but with the light off this ereader is specced to offer a battery life of more than 9000 page turns.

This is a budget ereader so it doesn't support audio, but the TB-416FL does support common (and uncommon) ebook formats like FB2, EPub, PDF, PDB, Mobi, CHM,, and DJVU. It can also read a number of office doc and other formats like RTF, DOC, txt, and html.

In terms of software the TB-416FL lets readers change the font size, save and delete bookmarks, rotate text, and reflow PDFs. There is also a Clock, Calendar, and file manger.

The TB-416FL has 4GB of storage, a microSD card slot,a g-sensor, and is available now with a retail of 3990 rubles (~$123 USD).

Nate Hoffelder

Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader:
He's here to chew bubble gum and fix broken websites, and he is all out of bubble gum. He has been blogging about indie authors since 2010 while learning new tech skills at the drop of a hat. He fixes author sites, and shares what he learns on The Digital Reader's blog. In his spare time, he fosters dogs for A Forever Home, a local rescue group.